Australia will be travelling to South Africa for a limited-overs tour in which they will play three ODIs and three T20Is. It will be two years after the highly controversial ball-tampering scandal happened which did irreparable damage to the image of Australian cricket and saw three of the Kangaroos’ players being banned for variable amounts of time.

Pat Cummins was on that fateful tour where then captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and opener Cameron Bancroft were banned by Cricket Australia as Bancroft was caught by cameras during the Cape Town Test match using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball. Cricket Australia handed Warner and Smith suspension for a year, while Bancroft received a ban of nine months.

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It’s been two years since the ball-tampering saga

Pat Cummins clearly remembers the entire scandal as if it happened yesterday. “It’s weird that’s it’s been two years since the ball-tampering saga. It feels like not that long ago that we were back in this hotel. We’ve played a lot of cricket since that time and have played South Africa at the World Cup,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.com.

He also said that the Australian team is expecting to cop a lot from the South Africa crowd when the T20I series begins from February 21. He knew the audience was still not happy with the conduct of Australian players during that unfortunate incident and there will be verbal volleys coming their way.

“I’m sure we’ll cop a little bit from the fans but it’s nothing we haven’t copped before. We will probably give it a mention in team meetings as we did before the Ashes and World Cup. It’s just about identifying it and having a bit of awareness so people can be prepared for it,” Cummins added.

Smith and Warner made their comebacks in the World Cup 2019 and Warner lit the tournament up with spectacular batting displays, while Smith was the leading scorer for the Kangaroos in the Ashes 2019. Bancroft also made his Australia comeback in the same series, though he had played the Big Bash League before, as his ban ended in December of 2018.